Alison Warford, the owner of Alison’s Record Shop in West Nashville, sorts her typical customers into three distinct categories.

The one-time collector who sold off, lost or gave away their records, and now finds themselves looking to buy back their favorite albums as a way to relive their youth. The older, hardcore collector with hundreds or thousands of records, who is now willing to finger through racks upon racks to find a rare, original pressing Sidney Bechet record. And the younger newcomer who is looking to build their collection up for the first time, as vinyl has re-emerged as the preferred medium of real music lovers.

Warford said she opened her store with her husband, Brian Warford, in late 2014 because they were acutely aware of the national vinyl record boom. Alison’s, which mostly offers vintage records and caters to the kinds of collectors willing to pay higher prices for rare releases, is the companion to Brian’s Custom Theaters & Hi-Fi next door in a shopping center off Charlotte Pike.

In 2005, vinyl record sales in the United States totaled 900,000 units, according to Nielsen. That number has grown steadily year over year to 11.9 million in 2015.

Alison’s is one of three new record shops to emerge in Nashville in the last 18 months, proof that the vinyl record boom is about more than impressive sales statistics offered up by the music industry in press releases. In Nashville, and other cities across the country, vinyl records mean real business, new retail shops and entrepreneurial job creation.

East of the Cumberland River, Atomic Nashville opened in recent weeks as an art, books and music shop. To the surprise of Atomic Nashville co-owner Dan Balog, the new store is selling five vinyl records, from its offerings of albums made exclusively by Nashville artists, for every one CD. In the coming months, Vinyl Tap will open and wrap new and used records together with local craft beer in hopes of forming a sort of vinyl lover’s hangout at the old Family Wash location.

Saturday marks the annual music nerd holiday, Record Store Day, which is one part live music festival, one part vinyl super sale and one part celebration of independent, locally owned businesses.

There are 10 record stores in Nashville that have joined the coalition of independent stores that created Record Store Day. The event features an array of exclusive releases and vinyl fiends often camp out at places like Grimey’s in hopes of landing the limited edition albums.

Alison’s will feature a sale on all vinyl starting at 20 percent between 8 and 9 a.m., 15 percent off until 11 a.m. and 10 percent off after that.

Alison’s launched in late 2014 as the companion to her husband’s audio equipment store, Brian’s Custom Theaters and Hi-Fi. Visitors to the shop can sift through the vintage records and then have a listen on a world class sound system, Warford said.

The Warfords’ friend, Sonny Collier, had collected records since the 1960s and they used some of his collection to start their store. Now Warford scours social media for deals and has regular clients who sell her records. She focuses on music from the '60s, '70s and '80s.

A classically trained cellist, Warford called herself “the least likely person to run a record shop” because she didn’t listen to pop music until later in life.

“I would not have wanted to start the record shop if it wasn’t for how popular vinyl has become,” she said.

That’s a sentiment echoed by Todd Hedrick, the owner of Vinyl Tap, the craft beer and record shop slated to open in East Nashville in June. Hedrick, a long-time collector himself, said he’d dreamed for several years of opening such a concept, and found the timing right when Family Wash moved locations. Vinyl Tap will have a mix of new releases and vintage records.

“We wouldn't have opened a vinyl store 10 years ago even though that’s what I’ve always collected,” he said.

Mom and pop record shop Atomic Nashvilleis seeking to become a hub for artists of all types to congregate, support each other and sell their works. With books, paintings anchoring much of the shop, Dan and Kerry Balog knew they would want to sell music as well and give “neighborhood” artists a retail outlet for their work. Dan Balog said he’s been surprised at how popular the vinyl collection has done since vinyl is more expensive than CDs.

Hedrick said he thinks vinyl has taken off in popularity because of a backlash against digital music.

The Recording Industry Association of America pointed out in its 2015 music sales report that vinyl record sales generated more revenue — $416 million — than on-demand free streaming services like YouTube, Vevo, Soundcloud and Spotify’s free model which made a combined $385 million.

“Real music lovers,” as he calls them, want a music listening experience that is more personal than tapping a smartphone screen. Vinyl requires care to remove from the packaging, which is large and demands attention to the artwork, to the song list and liner notes.

“I think real music lovers have sought it out as a great alternative to what was happening in music,” Hedrick said. “Unfortunately the MP3 is not fun for people, and the sound quality is so bad. People love collecting things, and you really can’t collect MP3s.”